The Knoxville City Council bonding preparations for the next phase of the Downtown Streetscape project while continuing to save for further phases as they can. They discussed the project further Monday night. City Manager Harold Stewart asked for clarification on how city staff was to use Local Option Sales Tax funds for the project. The city plans to set aside half of that money over the next ten years, worth around $3.5 million, and bond around $3.3 million for downtown square portion of the Streetscape project. Stewart explained, as he wasn’t City Manager during the original vote on the sales tax, he wanted to be sure the funds were being used the way they were intended. Local Option Sales Tax funds can also be used for vehicle replacement and at discretion of the Council in case of emergencies.

The Council agreed that the downtown square portion of the project needed to be done this year. That’s the most expensive part of the project. They said they would continue to save for further phases and do them as the money became available. The overall project will be between $10-12 million dollars.